Greetings from Santo Domingo! It has been a busy and productive day here in the Dominican Republic, where our five surgeons performed 16 joint replacements on 10 patients throughout the course of the day. Today's patients ranged from young individuals with avascular necrosis of the hips who underwent total hip replacement, to much older patients with severe knee osteoarthritis who underwent total knee arthroplasty. The teamwork and camaraderie between all members of the Op Walk staff, from the Dominican medical students and physicians to the nurses to the physical therapists to the medical team and Depuy Synthes representatives remains nothing short of remarkable, and the communication between the OR, PACU, and wards has been near seamless in spite of the lack of readily available iPhones, text pagers, and other modern conveniences that we use to communicate at our home hospitals. I have included some images from around the hospital today below to give you an idea of the multiple facets of Op Walk. One of the more gratifying parts of the day was the return of some of last year's Op Walk patients, who came to visit and tell the team of their progress since undergoing joint replacement. I have never seen a more grateful or gracious group of patients in my time as a resident.
More to come tomorrow!
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| Attending Orthopaedic Surgeons Dr. Thornhill, Dr. Fitz, Dr. Burke, Dr. Dalury, and Dr. Ready (not seen in this view) gather to discuss the game plan in the morning prior to the start of cases. |
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| The OR board for the day. |
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| Jill, one of our physical therapists, welcomes one of last year's Op Walk patients back to the hospital. |
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| Josh and Kesner, two of the representatives from Depuy Synthes, getting equipment ready in the cargo room. The entirety of the implants and supplies for the joint replacements performed during this mission were donated by Depuy Synthes. |
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| Dr. Dalury, Judy, and Fiona discuss equipment prior to surgery. |
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| Steve and Anne get everything ready to go for the OR in the cargo room.. |
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| Dr. Ready, Paul, Dr. Fitz, and Debbie in between cases. |
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| Our nurse practitioner Barb and several of our nurses (Aliesha, Christina, and Cara), and the Dominican medical team discuss plans for post-operative patients as they return to the wards following surgery. |
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